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I love…

Sunday, October 23, 2011

I love…

Okay. I’m about to let you into my secret world. My coworkers were teasing me the other day because I’m humored by such small things. It’s true. One small, weird thing that makes me happy is singing the wrong words to a song. Intentionally. Yeah…I know it’s weird. But I love to do it!

For instance, ever since I read The Lord of the Rings, I have had a difficult time singing White Christmasalong with Bing Crosby. While Bing is crooning, “may your days be merry and bright,” your Auntie is squawking, “may your days be Merry and Pippin!”

I know. Ridiculous. There’s another old Christian song called by All Together Separate that says, “I stand solid while the paradigm is shifting.” But me? No, I sing, “I stand solid while the twenty cents is shifting.”

Oh, you love me. Admit it—it’s fun to be related to someone who does this. It’s fun to do it! Sometimes you have to let loose and just be odd. It’s fun.

I do think, though, aside from being fun, it is a gift that runs in our family. Your uncle Joel may not sing the wrong words to a song, but he’s skilled at writing bizarre songs on the spot. Uncle Doughnuts is known to change words and names just for the fun of it (the TV series “One Tree Hill” will forever be “Single Maple Incline” in my head; and pitcher Phil Coke for the Detroit Tigers will always be Mr. Pepsi).

But where did we get it? I learned the truth a few Christmases ago. There’s an old album that Mom shared with us as we were growing up that featured several popular artists. One gentle melody, sung by B.J. Thomas, expresses a Christmas Wish:

Take this Christmas love and spread it all through the year.

What did Mom say of the line? She said she always expected him to sing ‘shove it.’

Shove it.

Take this Christmas love and shove it.

Now you know your Grandma, and you know that she does not use or condone that type of remark. But she heard it somehow in that song, and…I’ll never hear it the same.

That’s really the fun of it. Music is nothing if it isn’t fun. Have fun with your music—even if it’s a silly kind of fun now and again.

Now you got me thinking about some of the old worship songs that you (ahem) changed. There was one song that I can still remember. Ok so I can’t remember the song, but I can remember the mixed up words and even the melody. We had some fun with some of those songs. I mean you had fun changing the words of the songs :)